The ’70s singer Melba Moore returned to Newark Arts High School for the first time today since she graduated decades ago. The visit was part of the national HistoryMakers program, in which hundreds of notable African Americans visited schools to recount their struggles on the path to success.

“From the very first day that I came here, I knew that it was a special place and that because I was here, if I wasn’t special, I would become special,” said Moore, who now lives in Guttenberg. “Because we treat each other that way. We’re not like a family. We are a family.”

More than 400 students in the auditorium clapped and cheered as the diminutive singer and Tony Award-winning actress was guided down the aisle, clad in a cropped black tuxedo jacket and ankle boots and carrying a sequined bag.

“As you can see, there are a lot of young artists here who aspire to be just like you,” student Melissa Hansen told Moore.

Moore had a rough childhood before moving to Newark when she was 9, when her mother, a singer, married a pianist. At Arts High School, Moore sang arias and formed a blues instrumental group. She studied at Montclair State University and briefly taught at Peshine Avenue School. But Moore wouldn’t give up on her dream. She ignored her parents’ urging to “get a real job.”

Moore got her start in the original Broadway cast of the musical “Hair.” In 1970, she won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in the show “Purlie” and received several Grammy nominations.

When a student asked her how it felt to hear her song on the radio for the first time, she replied by singing a high-pitched note. The students probed her about the pitfalls of fame and asked about her drive.

“If you don’t have a passion, you should develop a passion,” she said. “That comes from a love and a desire to do whatever it takes to learn it, not to be afraid to start at the bottom.”